With 6:12 left in the first quarter of Monday night’s game between the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals, Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field. An ambulance was brought on to the field, and medical professionals administered CPR to the 24-year-old Hamlin.
Given the severity of the injury, it makes sense that Hamlin’s teammates, and several Bengals players, were in various states of shock and emotion. Many players were openly weeping on the field as they watched medical professionals tend to Hamlin.
Per ESPN, the NFL was originally going to give both teams five minutes to warm up once Hamlin was taken off the field. But Bengals head coach Zac Taylor crossed the field to speak with Bills head coach Sean McDermott, and after further discussion, both teams left the field, and the game was temporarily suspended.
In the stadium tunnel, both Bills head coach Sean McDermott and Bengals head coach Zac Taylor spoke on a phone — one assumes that they were speaking with the league office. Then, Dawn Aponte, the NFL’s chief administrator of football operations, spoke on the same phone. Right after that, ESPN cut to Bills staffers putting team equipment bags on a cart.
Then, after a protracted delay, the NFL decided to suspend the game until another time. Here is the league’s statement.
NFL statement on tonight’s Bills-Bengals game: pic.twitter.com/odLrDlpQGU
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 3, 2023
